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The financial housecleaning by the Trump administration is long overdue, and realistically may never come again.
Here is the fundamental reason why. To the average bureaucrat, they really don't care. It's not their money and as a government employee they quickly learn it's better to keep your mouth shut. You need to "go along to get along."
I saw this often in my state employment years.
In one case, the state legislature mandated our agency perform a certain task. The reason we had to do that task was to placate a very vocal and politically active group. The task was costly, and in the long run, not practical. Many of us asked why we were doing this money-wasting task. The response from up the ladder was "just do it."
In another case, a business had snared a very lucrative contract for various supplies the state needed. Quickly, many employees observed that what the state was paying the contractor for these supply items was far above what you would pay to other vendors.
There was a provision that if an employee could prove they could buy an item cheaper elsewhere, you could do so. The kicker is that the original vendor would still receive an "off contract" fee for anything so purchased.
That's right, they were paid a fee for doing and providing nothing in return.
Steve Kleiner
Altoona